Jose Mourinho queries Foy after loss

Jose Mourinho hit out at referee Chris Foy's decision to send him off during Chelsea's ill-tempered defeat to Aston Villa.

The Blues surrendered the initiative to Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League title race thanks to Fabian Delph's 82nd-minute winner.

All in all it was a dreadful trip to the Midlands for Mourinho, whose team are six points ahead of City but they have three matches in hand.

Willian and Ramires were both sent off in the 1-0 defeat and their manager was also dismissed for coming on the pitch in injury-time to remonstrate with the referee over his decision to send off Ramires.

Foy refused to speak to Mourinho, just directing the Chelsea manager to the stands, and again the referee would not speak to the 51-year-old when he approached the official in the tunnel following the feisty contest.

"I tried to speak to Mr Foy twice. I tried to speak on the pitch, and I tried in the dressing rooms," the Chelsea manager said.

"In the dressing rooms I tried to ask politely, can you give me five seconds? And he refused."

A Chelsea spokesman denied rumours Mourinho and Chelsea captain John Terry tried to force their way into the referee's room after the game.

The spokesman said Mourinho asked to speak to Foy as he went into the officials' changing room in the tunnel at Villa Park.

When Foy refused, Mourinho then asked to speak to fourth official Jon Moss as he entered the room, but again he refused. Chelsea say Mourinho did not enter the referee's room at any point.

Mourinho insisted he did not act in an angry manner during his request to speak to the officials in the tunnel.

Fearing another FA charge, Mourinho refused to speak about Foy's decision to send off Ramires and Willian.

"I don't make any comments about any of the incidents in the game. I prefer not to speak," he said.

He was willing to talk about his own dismissal, though.

The Portuguese defended his actions and pointed out that he was not the only one who encroached onto the pitch following Ramires' tackle on Marc Albrighton.

The Chelsea manager also criticised Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor for coming off the bench and getting involved in the multi-player melee that followed Ramires' dismissal.

"It's a big occasion for me to know about the character of Mr Foy, because I want to know what he's going to write about my sending off," Mourinho said.

"I was two-three metres inside the pitch or four-five metres, but there were like 10 persons there. It was me, my two assistants, (Villa boss) Paul Lambert, Paul's assistants..

"And there was Agbonlahor, who came in and made an aggression on Ramires from behind.

"I think almost all of us were just trying to calm (things) down and try to stop (it). So if I was sent off because I was on the pitch, I ask why not the others, especially one player that made an aggression on another one, Agbonlahor on Ramires?

"Agbonlahor came from the dug out, he went to Ramires, pulled him from his neck and Agbonlahor was not on pitch he was on the bench."

A charge from the Football Association may now follow. When asked whether he thought he would be punished, an unrepentant Mourinho said: "Me? Me or the ref? No, I don't expect (to be charged) because I did nothing."

After all the drama that occurred in the dying minutes, it was easy to forget the result and the significance of it.

City's win over Hull earlier in the day had piled the pressure on Mourinho's men and they wilted in response.

The Blues lacked creativity in attack. Fernando Torres, starting in place of the injured Samuel Eto'o, could not find a way through Villa's organised back line. Oscar, Willian and Eden Hazard all failed to produce their usual magic.

Mourinho has publicly claimed all along that City are big favourites to win the title.

It is debatable whether he actually believes that or not, but Mourinho was sticking by that stance in his post-match press conference.

"We are not in the title race," Mourinho said.

"We are in a match race. We play every match, we try to win, we think we can win, we give everything to win, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, but that's our race."

Lambert was happy to see his team win successive home games for the first time since August 2010.

The Villa boss, who refused to comment on any of the dismissals, said: "I thought we were outstanding, regardless of any decision.

"The Willian red card didn't change the game. We did well before it and we deserved the win.

"We were absolutely outstanding. They are a top side vying for the league and the Champions League."